the black death: a personal history summary

Description or summary of the book: In this fresh approach to the history of the Black Death, John Hatcher, a world-renowned scholar of the Middle Ages, recreates everyday life in a mid-fourteenth century rural English village. More than half a millennium has passed since the Black Plague ravaged Europe as "the greatest natural disaster the world has ever seen," yet this pandemic's path of panic and fear bears a striking resemblance to the current trajectory of influenza. The plague killed over a third of the entire population. There were two more major and many more minor epidemics.

The main epidemic lasted from 1348 to 1353. The Black Death was an infamous plague causing an estimated 20 million deaths in Europe. The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. It killed millions of people.

The labour shortage caused landowners to substitute wages or money rents in place of labour … The Black Death was an epidemic which spread across almost all of Europe in the years 1346-53. It has been described as the worst natural disaster in European history and is responsible for changing the course of that history to a great degree. The disease spread fast and covered the territory from China to England and the ultimate western part of Europe, covering almost entire Europe within several years. In the Middle Ages there were no known medical treatments and people were trying all kinds of cures. The outbreak of the Black Death in the Prussian town of Elbing (today the Polish town of Elblag) on August 24th, 1349, was a new milestone in the history of the Black Death. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of up to 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. CHAPTER 1 . Summary of the Black Death The Black Death was one of the worst diseases in medieval times. A ship that left Oslo at the beginning of June would probably sail through the Sound around June 20th and reach Elbing in the second half of July, in time to unleash an epidemic outbreak around August 24th. Its spread and impact is disputed, but it does give an insight into a medieval way of life. Many labourers died, which devastated families through lost means of survival and caused personal suffering; landowners who used labourers as tenant farmers were also affected.

The Black Death: A Personal History by John Hatcher. The effects of the Black Death were many and varied. 13 Geoffrey Chaucer’s portrait of a poor parson: Chaucer’s portrait of “a poor parson” is contained in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, of which there are innumerable modern editions. The Black Death: A Personal History; Page 20; NOTES. Trade suffered for a time, and wars were temporarily abandoned.

The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence and the Great Mortality, was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history.